The ramblings of me, mostly to do with the Theatre around the West Midlands. Any queries email me at contact@wright-writes.com, tweet me @WrightTheatre, or visit the contact me page. Thanks

Earlier this week I made the trip down to Chichester to see another of this season’s smash hits Gypsy starring the incredible Imelda Staunton. The run has already sold out but I’d put money on it that we’ll see it in London before long.

Anyways, this week the Birmingham Hippodrome announced on its blog with great fanfare that they were ‘introducing’ tweet seats for a performance this week by Brazil dance group Grupo Corpo. “The great thing about this idea” according to the press department at the Hippodrome “is that spectators can share their thoughts as the show happens without having to wait until curtain down.” But what’s the point in live tweeting a show that only a handful of followers will be at and what about the people sitting around these so called ‘tweet seats’?

Apologies (again) for the absence. I’m sure the next post will also start with that due to the months long gaps between the blog posts. Having had the email telling me to renew the domain recently, reminded me that I had the blog and how when I bought the domain I told myself that I’d try to make something of it, and I did try – but then I failed. So renewing it, maybe I’ll try again. No harm in trying is there?

So what have I been doing I hear you ask? (Well the 2 of you reading this in some random places that I’ve never heard of). Boring answer – work. My work life has changed. For those that weren’t aware, my job has always been a bit temperamental but recently this changed to being much more settled and so a lot of my time has gone towards this. Now on a bit of a break before heading back to work soon it’s given me a bit of time to breath.

The exciting answer to what I’ve been up to though is that I’ve just finished directing a play! Annoyingly I had so many ideas to blog throughout the process but as mentioned above, the job thing got in the way, and leaving the house at 7:30am and returning at 11pm several days a week, blog posts took a back seat. Which is a shame, as I’d have loved to have shared my experiences with you.

Last night Eurovision was won by Austria’s act Conchita Wurst. And it was a ruddy good song that deserved to win. But the second she won my facebook and twitter were alight with comments saying ‘Equality has won’. Why? Oh, because for the last few weeks any story about Eurovision would mention the bearded lady or the Austrian drag queen. Because apparently, by highlighting the differences between Conchita and the other acts and by emphasising she was a drag queen, and for the announcer from one country saying it was time for her to shave, and the constant jokes and comments made in her direction, it means that equality is the champion.

Every so often Birmingham has some fantastic free outdoor Arts events. The weekend just gone was just one example with 4 Squares celebrating the opening of the new library. I was only able to attend one event, ‘As the World Tipped’ – a stunning aerial piece in which the performers interacted with some stunning projections on the theme of climate change. For more info see: http://www.wiredaerialtheatre.com/as-the-world-tipped#!__as-the-world-tipped/the-show and for more photos click on the photo to see my flickr set from the evening.

I was fortunate to be asked to go review the National Theatre’s production of Alan Bennett’s play ‘People’ at the newly reopened Birmingham Rep a couple of days back. I will link to the full review when it goes live but for now, follow the jump for a little preview and for the link to the full review at WhatsOnStage.com

A recent BBC news story that grabbed my attention was about the future of London’s small theatres. A small theatre is one that has a capacity of 300 or less. The closest I’d got to a small theatre earlier this year was seeing performances in studio spaces but earlier this year I visited the Union Theatre in London to see the musical Bare. I was blown away at the theatre space and at the time had plans to blog about it but they were way laid with work commitments and so never happened (although when I see the transfer of Bare at Greenwich Theatre in October I’ll endevour to blog).